Barrel Aged Cocktails

What happens when you age a cocktail? Does aging help or hinder the flavour and what is happening chemically to the liquor mixture inside the barrel? Do you really need a barrel to make them? These are the questions everyone wants to know about aged cocktails, and really, this is a unique and little understood process so let’s do a little research and discover what is happening.

Aged cocktails first started off with bottled aged cocktails by Tony Conigliaro at 69 Colebrooke Row and then Jeffrey Morgenthaler started barrel aging them for the sake of expediency. Even though Tony and Jeffrey are modern trend setters, bottle aged cocktails have been around since the time of Jerry Thomas. I suspect that bartenders like Thomas bottled cocktails for convenience, but based on the quantities they bottled the last few bottles would have been well aged.

In the late 1880s bottled cocktails were becoming popular, but not necessarily aged ones. Customers who had a well developed relationship with their bartenders rarely deviated from those who knew the intricacies of their drinks. The bartenders at some establishments would bottle cocktails and provide them to customers so they could enjoy their favourite cocktail while travelling or on Sundays when bars were legally required to be closed.

In the early 1900s, the company Club Cocktail was advertising “aged cocktails” as the epitome of taste. These were barrel aged cocktails, but little is known about the process they used. In fact we only know about them through some old advertisements.

While doing some research on this topic I came across a newspaper short story, The Lost Blend (1922) (I assume fictional) about two bartenders who decided to setup an American bar in Nicaragua, only to discover in transit that there was a 48% tax on all bottled goods entering into the country. Barrelled products were tax free, so the two men, Riley and McQuirk, purchased two barrels from the ships captain and dump all their liquor into them, and hoped that the liquor turned out okay. The first barrel was vile....

“But the other barrel” said the bartender “did you ever put on a straw hat with a yellow band around it and go up in a balloon with a pretty girl, with $8,000,000 in your pocket all at the same time? That’s what 30 drops of it would make you feel like. With two fingers of it inside you, you would bury your face in your hands and cry because there wasn’t anything more worth while around for you to lick. Yes sir, the stuff in the second barrel was distilled elixir of battle, money and high life. It was the colour of gold and as clear as glass, and it shone after dark like the sunshine was still in it. A thousand years from now you’ll get a drink like that across the bar.”

Maybe not a thousand years, how about one hundred? Media people could learn a lot by reading some of these old stories for marketing ideas.

Anyway, now that the aged cocktail trend is becoming entrenched we should try to understand whether there is really something happening during the aging process. Once we understand that, then we can use the information to make even better cocktails.

There isn’t any direct scientific research on aged cocktails, but there is a wealth of research on aging wine and spirits.

In the process of aging something in a barrel, there are a number of things going on that change the flavour profile. The key two are micro-oxygenation and extraction.

Oxidation

Aged cocktails are basically partially oxidized cocktails. The process can be considered micro-oxygenation because the liquids aren’t completely exposed to the air but are still influenced by it. It is more applicable to the barrel aging technique, but still occurs in bottled cocktails.

Cocktail oxidation is a very complex process and not something that has been studied, but the oxidation of wine has been widely studied, so we can extrapolate some these effects to aged cocktails with vermouth or other wines in them.

When the “cocktail” is added to the barrel, it is sloshed with air. This is enough to influence the flavour of the drink through oxidation. For example, some of the alcohol (ethanol) can be converted to acetyl-aldehyde which has aromas of green apple, grass, nutty or sherry-like. Some sherries and Madeira are oxidized, hence the association.

Some of the acetyl-aldehyde can undergo further oxidation and turn into acetic acid. This can be good or bad. Excess acetic acid can make a drink harsh, but a small quantity can add some flavour depth. Improperly stored wine will often develop acetic acid.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of compounds in a cocktail that can undergo oxidation or other reactions. All of these reactions will influence the final product, good or bad. Overall, there is a net benefit with short aging times.

Extraction

When people think of barrel aged spirits, they think of things like whisky, brandy and rum. The flavours that come to mind are vanilla and oak, and any residual flavours from the barrels previous contents (sherry, etc.). Additionally, it is well know that barrel aging smooths out spirits and this is what I want to focus on.

Current research points to the extraction of hemicellulose from the wood as a key factor in smoothing out harsh spirits. Hemicellulose is most commonly found in plants and accounts for 22% to 25% of white oak. The research paper “Oak Wood Hemicelluloses Extracted with Aqueous–Alcoholic Media” (Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2006) makes the following conclusion about hemicellulose:

“It is assumed that this makes drinks more full-bodied and makes them softer.”

There really isn’t any surprise that barrel aging makes drinks “softer”, but the paper discusses some aspects of why. One of the keys is acidity.

“It cannot be ruled out that storage in an acid medium is accompanied by partial hydrolysis of hemicelluloses, which is considered the cause of the increased content of reducing sugars, improving the taste of the drink.”

What this is basically saying is that the acidic liquids extract more hemicellulose, creating a smoother drink. Spirits tend to be less acidic than wine, so the extraction process takes much longer. With barrel aged cocktails many of the recipes increase the acidity through the addition of vermouth and sherry. The increased acidity helps to increase extraction, resulting in noticeable changes to the flavour of the cocktail in a short period fo time. Obviously, over extraction or aging will create a “flabby” cocktail, much like wines that are low in acidity.

The paper also shows that lower alcohol concentrations extract more hemicellulose and its associated sugars: glucose, fructose, xylose, and arabinose. The lower alcohol extraction is significant, extracting five times more at 40% ABV compared to 70% ABV. With a standard cocktail recipe, sans dilution, the ABV would be in the 20% to 30% range, possibly leading to more extraction.

Increasing acidity is easily done with wine and vermouth, but fruit juice should be avoid because the juice can become putrid. This is more of an issue in barrel aging techniques versus bottle aging.

The trick with increasing acidity is to use a stable, reasonably pure acid. The primary acid in wine is tartaric acid, with citric, malic and lactic acid making smaller contributions.

Lactic acid is a good choice for barrel aging, as it is the acid found in Lambic style beers like Geuze and Kriek and both are barrel aged for up to three years. Anyone who enjoys Lambic beers would find lactic acid (Lactart) a useful addition to their ingredient repertoire. The flavour of Lactart is often described as softer and smoother than other acids.

Between The Sheets (Variation)

¾ oz Brandy
¾ oz Light Rum
¾ oz Cointreau
¼ oz Lactart*

* The original recipe called for ¾ oz of lemon juice, but Lactart is stronger than lemon juice, so the quantity needs to be reduced.

Aging Cocktails at Home

Now that you’ve read this you may feel compelled to begin experimenting, but what do you need to get started? First, a barrel is cool and aesthetically pleasing, but not really necessary. Oak chips and oak infusion spirals will work perfectly fine, even though wine aged with oak chips is considered fraud according to the European Union.

Now don’t label me as a heretic. Most of the scientific research on the subject has shown that “Wines obtained with oak wood fragments were not significantly rejected either by consumers who answered the questionnaire or by consumer tasters....”. This isn’t to say there isn’t any difference, research shows that there is some for wines, but the short aging cycles for cocktails will be limiting. Choice of oak type (French, American, Spanish, etc.) will make a bigger difference.

One negative about oak chips is quality. Oak chips are obviously not the best pieces of oak and may contain “tainted” wood. In large batches a few tainted chips wouldn’t have much of an effect, however in a 750 ml bottle, it could have a negative influence. The other downside is that the chips have a very large surface area and because of this, over extraction can happen very quickly.

My recommendation would be to start with oak infusion spirals. The spirals allow you more control over the process because of their uniform size and shape. This allows you to give them a consistent toast. They can also be reused.

Once you have some oak, all you need to do is pick a cocktail, put it in a bottle and add the oak and be patient.

Aged Cocktail Tips

1. Avoid fruit juices
2. Dilution is important, aim for 20% to 30% ABV
3. Increase the acidity with wine acids, Lactart or Acid Phosphate
4. Sample while aging to avoid excess extraction and flabbiness.
5. Include something with sugar, as that will help the extraction process.
6. If using oak chips, select larger sized.
7. Track the development of the aging with tasting notes. If you don’t have good notes, how will you recreate your “elixir of battle, money and high life”.

The aging process is extremely complex, so this article isn’t meant to be conclusive. However, it is meant to give everyone a better understanding of what is happening inside the barrel and some ideas on how to influence the aging process. If you have any questions post them below and I’ll try to answer them.

p.s. I call dibs on the cocktail name “Elixir of Battle”

Jeffrey Morgenthaler will be doing a session on Barrel Aged Cocktails at Tales of the Cocktail this year.

References

Effect of Micro-Oxygenation and Wood Type on the Phenolic Composition and Color of an Aged Red Wine (Journal of Agriculture & Food Chemistry, 2009)

Comments on Barrel Aged Cocktails

Hey there, Aus.First - I don't think there'd be any problem with rose water, and in fact...the rose water would 'season' the barrel, so the next time that you use it (generally-speaking, with the smaller barrels with the thinner staves, they can only be used twice), the mixture in the barrel will have a slight, rose taste. I had a second use, 5L barrel that had Campari in it for 5mos that then I put Mezcal in it for 4mos - and it has been the best aged spirit/cocktail that I've ever done of the dozens now that I have aged. Point is - whatever is in the barrel will flavor the next addition to the barrel, so rose water is an interesting experiment.And, as someone mentioned above, citrus is not a great option for aging. Citrus would cause a tremendous amount of particulate unless you clarify it through agar or (my personal fantasy) a centrifuge. On top of that, if there's not a high enough liquor content, it'll just plain go bad.And, a metal/glass vessel is how this all started A fellow named Tony Conigliaro at London's, 69 Colebrooke Row, started this cocktail aging trend by aging in glass carboyes for years. Years and years. Then, (as mentioned above, I do believe) Jeffrey Morganthaler put a cocktail into a barrel...and the rest is history. So - metal? Glass? Sure, but part of the effect that is looked-for now is the wood-aged effect. The tannins & sugars that come from a charred barrel are part of the effect, but I do wonder what a copper container would do, as it reacts chemically with the alcohol..."and how much air is allowed to be in each vessel, ie barrel, glass or metal?"I tend to fill a barrel most of the way up as the oxidation tends (in my experience) to harm the final product. A closed barrel should be a pretty closed environment. In fact, it's not odd for a barrel to blow up a bit when it's opened if the atmosphere inside has warmed up since the liquor was first introduced. So, the less air in my opinion, the better.I'm glad that you're playing around with this - please do let us know what you are aging and the specs. For instance, what size barrels? I use mostly 5L because it ages rather quickly (6-8weeks, depending on first or second use), and it's not so much product that I can't sell through it rather quickly.See if you can get Sullivan's Cove to help with the barrels. I bet that they use large/standard barrels, but perhaps they have a line on cheap, oak barrels? There's a few whisky distilleries there now as I hear it, so they'd probably want to work with you I would imagine.Again, enjoy your experiments, and let us know how it goes.Andrew Friedman
Owner - Liberty
Pres. - Washington State Bartenders' Guild
Posted by Liberty Bar (Seattle) on 2011-09-28 17:37:39

Hi,I am in Australia and aging cocktails is still relatively new stuff to bars so this article is very helpful. I am starting to do my own tests on aging cocktails at the moment and i am curious whether ingredients like rose water can be added. i would assume that most of the cocktail would need to be spirit, citrus or bitters to work well or am i wrong in this assumption? Would a metal vessel need to be used for higher water content cocktails?
Also how do i seal the vessels. assume i use a glass bottle do i cork it up? would the cork not then add its own flavours? and how much air is allowed to be in each vessel, ie barrel, glass or metal?A lot of questions i know and any of them being answered would be highly appreciated.Posted by Aus follower on 2011-09-28 12:48:15

Thinking about it. Is aging cocktails, other word ; resting, a bit the same as resting a spirit after distilling? It makes them softer and more palatable. I read a piece about a bar who was aging them in metal bottles. He was using metal bottles because in oak barrels it added much more flavours he didn't want to have. (Oak barrels is the fastest way to achieve the ageing.) When you think about it ageing a spirit that is already aged sound a bit stupid... And the other thing is that it will go faster then glass, what Tony C is doing at 69 Coolebroke Row, but it will be slower then oak barrels.Little quote of the article ;
"This does not mean that flavors do not marry at all in glass: they do, except they take a very long time, with no hugely perceptible taste benefits over marrying in steel. I would estimate from my experience that marrying in steel occurs approximately 6-10 times faster than in glass. So marrying something for six months in glass would take just 2-4 weeks in steel."So isn't the vessel that we use saying how fast it will go due to the exposure to air, climate change, material etc? We can also use old sake uncharred cedar barrels, shochu earth ware pots etc. All have different qualities and different times of ageing for achieving the desired taste/flavour. What do you guy think about it?Oh and my aged manhattan when very bad... It's way to woody. It's due to the barrel I used. Don't know what to do with it yet... I had an idea of making manhattan bitters. Maybe redistilling it and making barrel wood bitters. I don't know yet all I know it will end up in bitters.Posted by Marcel on 2011-05-24 21:24:19

Hey there, Marcel.While I surely will not pretend to be an expert - yes, you can char the wood and use it repeatedly (to a degree). Barrels are often re-charred, then scoured of the old char, to be re-used. To do this at home, one has to first scrape away all of the old char, get a good fire going in a BBQ, and then re-char the new pieces. Keep in mind, a '4' char on a bourbon barrel is a barrel that was put to the gas torch for maybe a b it less than a minute, in that time allowing the sugars in the oak to caramelize, which is then slowly leched into the whisk(e)y.So, how long should you do it? Tough question. Not too long though - you don't want a build-up of actual char, probably. I do look forward to hearing about your results, though.Posted by Liberty Bar (Seattle) on 2011-04-23 21:17:50

Hmm, oak chips chips and spirals in cocktails. I have been a lucky guy and got a couple of boards that where just burned. These where for the use of cognac aging. Cut them in bits so that the fit in a milk bottle. (These are wider at the top.) Aged the Manhattan and drinked it of course. But then i had a pièce oak that was soaked with the golden liquid. I wanted it throw it away but then i remembered something. In aging spirits they toasted the barrels again and use them again. How you can do that at home? And does it really work toasting that wood again?Posted by Marcel on 2011-04-21 19:57:38

Great piece, Darcy, thanks. I'm assuming that most of the research cited was done on first fill, ie new toasted wine barrels, while most of the cocktail aging that I've read about has been in used charred whiskey barrels. While wood can be re-used, of course, it does lose some efficacy. And that is separate from the influence of the former contents! I find the huge number of variables in the process fascinating.Posted by Sylvan on 2011-04-04 17:52:25

Correction: "They are not re-introduced to bottles" should read 'They are not re-introduced to barrels'.Posted by Liberty Bar (Seattle) on 2011-04-04 15:40:50

Darcy is, of course, correct. The angel share lost is absolutely minimal due to a) the time that the cocktail spends in the barrel, and b) more than that, typically, a 'normal', 53 gallon barrel is generally kept in a rickhouse, which is basically a big building with the minimal protection to the elements - just a tin wall and roof. This means that in the summer - they get really hot, and in the winter cold. Not so much for barrel-aged cocktails, which mostly are kept behind bars in temperature controlled bars. So, for the most part, all that is being pulled from the barrel is a small amount of oak oil/sugars that can be leeched from simple exposure to the cocktail.Ryan, SoCo and Red Stag and such are not in any context the same as a barrel-aged spirit. These are whiskies that have artificial flavors added for the resultant ... what is it? The resultant 'drink'? They are not re-introduced to bottles. Red Stag actually simply has food coloring and flavor just added, then it's bottled. Posted by Liberty Bar (Seattle) on 2011-04-04 15:38:10

Seems to me that Southern Comfort amounts to a commecially successful barrel aged cocktail. Do you know of any others that are still around from back in the day?Posted by Ryan on 2011-04-04 15:00:22

DJ, reduction does play a role in barrel proof spirits, but at cocktail ABV, there will be much less evaporation. Also, the short age cycles (1 to 3 months) will limit the reduction.A typical full sized barrel, with 140 proof spirit will loose 2% of its volume per year. For barrel aged cocktails we're probably talking less that 0.25%.Posted by Darcy O'Neil on 2011-04-04 10:22:24

Darcy, I feel like you're neglecting to mention a physical (as opposed to chemical) process that also affects how a mix ages in a barrel: reduction.Liquids in barrels lose a lot of volume due to evaporation, and that also affects the flavor of the final product, depending on how much it reduces.Posted by DJ HawaiianShirt on 2011-04-04 10:10:40

I'm glad that you wrote this, because here at Liberty, we have taken this new novelty and opened it up for our customers. We have a Barrel For The Masses program where customers can choose which cocktail they want to age, and we will put it in a three-liter, charred barrel and age it for them. Why? Well, A) for many drinks which we have become accustomed to perfecting, this just brings another level of complexity and enjoyment to the drink. B) It's fun. It makes people happy.The process started for me when after reading about Jeffrey's experiments and experiences, I wondered what would happen if I SEPARATELY aged components to cocktails, so I threw sweet vermouth into a barrel (with the addition of .750 of 150proof NGS to keep it stable), and Campari into another. Turns out...it's delicious. AND, now we can put it in many different cocktails, not just the one that otherwise we would have aged. House orange bitters, too.Progress! Innovation! Nothing for which to be afraid.Thanks, Darcy.Posted by Liberty Bar (Seattle) on 2011-04-03 14:31:18

The Between the Sheets variation is a work in progress, but I'll write up the results once I have them. I may need to adjust the acidity.If using a barrel or oak spirals, I'd taste weekly, if you are using chips, maybe twice per week.You can barrel age pretty much any cocktail. For example the Morning Glory Cocktail.Manhattan do have a reasonable amount of sugar, from the whisky and sweet vermouth.Sours are an area that is relatively unexplored and some people have told me they are working on them. The results should be interesting.Hope that helps.Posted by Darcy O'Neil on 2011-04-03 11:05:53

Thanks for the article. How long does it take to age your Between The Sheets (variation)? At what intervals you do recommend tasting? Do you have other cocktail recommendations? Manhattans have the acidity, but not too much sugar. Perhaps a Brandy Manhattan? Old Fashioned Cocktails have the sugar without the acidity. Sounds like sours might work based on having both acidity and sugar. While I await your answers and the aging process, I am off to be fitted for a straw hat with a yellow band around it.Posted by Faust Gertz on 2011-04-03 10:07:30